SANFORD, Maine — The Sanford man accused of assaulting his infant twins remains at York County Jail, following a Wednesday court appearance.

Anthony Carpinelli made his first court appearance in District Court in Springvale via a video link from the York County Jail.

Carpinelli, 21, is charged with aggravated assault (a felony) as well as felony assault as a result of serious injuries inflicted on his 8-week-old twins. Judge Andre Janelle set Carpinelli's bail at $25,000 cash or $100,000 single surety and ordered that Carpinelli have no contact with his children or their mother.

The lawyer representing Carpinelli at the May 7 video hearing said his client was “distraught.”

According to Detective Sarah Roberts of the Sanford Police Department, the infants, a boy and a girl, were brought to the emergency department at Southern Maine Health Care in Sanford on May 2 with serious injuries due to head trauma. They were then transported to Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, one with serious injuries, the other with critical injuries.

The investigation by the Sanford Police Department Criminal Investigative Division revealed that the babies' mother, Nichole Morrill, was not at home on the night of May 1 and that Carpinelli, the biological father of the twins, was the sole caretaker of the infants that night.

According to police, when the mother returned she found the infants in distress and took them to the hospital. Authorities said the injuries are consistent with being struck and shaken, according to The Associated Press.

Carpinelli was arrested on May 5 and transported to the York County Jail.

On May 6, the babies' conditions were upgraded. The boy, whose injuries were less serious, was “doing much better,” according to Roberts. The baby girl, who had severe internal injuries and had been in critical condition, was upgraded to serious condition, Roberts said. Both infants were discharged later the same day, a hospital spokesperson said.

This week a woman who identifies herself as Nichole Morrill's mother has created a “Go Fund Me” website on the Internet. Judy Bumby said her daughter and the children have a temporary place to stay, but “needs to have her own place to safely raise her children.” (Morrill and Carpinelli also have a 2-year-old child.) The website appeals to the public for donations to help Morrill and her children find a safe place “to have a safe place to live, laugh, grow, and love.”

Bumby thanked visitors to the site for their concern and support and said she will provide updates on the twins conditions on the Go Fund Me site.

She said that currently the baby boy “seems to have been able to tough it out and will hopefully come through this strong, and will only require minimal help.”

The baby girl, however, she wrote, has more severe injuries and will “need more assistance financially now and in the future.”